Dr. Hugh Ross, founder and president of Reasons to Believe. | (Photo: Reasons to Believe)
Posted on 11/26/2019 8:19:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Was Noah's flood geographically local or over the entire Earth?
Speaking last week on an episode of the apologetics group Reasons To Believe YouTube channel, the acclaimed astrophysicist and Christian apologist stressed that when considering the flood of Noah, like any other biblical event, it is important to take into account the entirety of Scripture, not just the specific chapters in Genesis where it is recounted historically.
Dr. Hugh Ross, founder and president of Reasons to Believe. | (Photo: Reasons to Believe)
"2 Peter addresses it, the poetic books address it, so you really want to look at everything the Bible's got to say about the flood of Noah," Ross said.
2 Peter 2:5 states that the "world of ungodly people" was destroyed with a flood. An important distinction, he pointed out.
The Greek word for "world," cosmos, is also qualified with an adjective in that passage and earlier in 2 Peter, meaning that text is speaking of less than the whole globe.
"And from what we see in the first 11 chapters in Genesis, by the time of Noah, human beings had yet to build cities in Antarctica and Greenland and, therefore, there would be no need for God to flood Antarctica and Greenland," Ross elaborated.
Ross, a proponent of old earth creationism, argued against the claims of young earth creationists that the flood covered the entire Earth.
The most explicit texts about the flood, he said, come from Job, Psalms, and Proverbs.
Psalm 104 — the longest of what are called the Creation psalms — speaks of the third day of creation, of God transforming the planets from a world of water without continents or islands to world of continents, islands, and oceans. In verse 9 of that Psalm it is established that never again will water cover the whole face of the earth.
"So there's an explicit statement, once we've got continents on the face of the earth, never again are we going to return to a water world," Ross said.
Thus, that would allow a world of ungodly people to be flooded but not the entire surface of the earth.
Additionally, in three other Psalms, in Job 38, and in Proverbs, God speaks of creating permanent barriers to the waters once the continents are in place, ruling out the possibility that Noah's flood covered the whole planet.
When Ross speaks with those who hold the young earth creationist view, they often point to Genesis 7:11 and the verses that follow where the text speaks of the high mountains being covered with water to a depth of 15 cubits.
Yet in biblical Hebrew, the vocabulary is relatively small, he said, noting the word for mountains is equivalent to hills or mounds. The word "high" could also mean elevated, he continued, that the water covered all the elevated hills that were visible to Noah from his position atop the ark. The Hebrew word used in Genesis 8 for earth cannot be used accurately to refer to the entire surface of the planet, he said.
"I think the clincher is what you see in Genesis 8:5-9 when the floodwaters are receding and Noah releases a dove," Ross said.
From the dove's perspective, water covered the whole face of the Earth, the same phrase used earlier in Genesis 7 where it speaks of waters covering the mountains more than 15 cubits. Since the dove could not have seen the entire Earth, the word being used must be referring to what can be seen by the observer, Ross argued.
"The phrase of the entire face of the earth needs to be understood in the context of the observer," he emphasized.
When non-Christians discover that the Bible does not teach that the floodwaters covered the whole earth they are more open to considering its claims as a serious, inerrant document, Ross explained.
Reasons to Believe takes the view that the first 11 chapter of Genesis are indeed history, that what occurred were in fact actual events.
Ross is president and founder of Reasons to Believe, and an adjunct faculty member at A.W. Tozer Seminary and Southern Evangelical Seminary.
There’s plenty of water on earth to cover the entire earth.
There’s up to 11 times more water within the earth’s mantle than in all the oceans of the globe. That’s a lot of water. According to Scripture, that’s where the flood waters came from — when the fountains of the earth erupted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth#Water_in_Earth’s_mantle
What’s significant is that the Ark finally came to rest, and mankind was saved from the judgment, on the same date (17 Nisan/Aviv) as Christ rose from the dead. (Mankind was spared on both dates.)
maybe the flood just covered the known earth...
like the basin of humanity...
The author makes some good points.
How long can you tread water?
“How long can you tread water?”
Not 40 days...that’s for sure
No.
A flood that would cover the entire planet past the top of Mt. Everest for over a month would not have any life on it today like it does.
That was the rain. In Genesis 7 is says that after it stopped raining the waters prevailed upon the earth for 150 days before the Ark landed on Mt. Ararat. Then Noah waited 40 more days before the waters receded enough to land. And 3 months after landing the waters had completely receded. Lot of time to be paddling around.
“And from what we see in the first 11 chapters in Genesis, by the time of Noah, human beings had yet to build cities in Antarctica and Greenland and, therefore, there would be no need for God to flood Antarctica and Greenland,” Ross elaborated.”
This guy assumes the current continental layout is what it was during the Flood.
How does he prove that what’s known as Pangea was the continental layout pre-Flood?
Genesis 1:9 “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”
If the waters were gathered “in one place,” doesn’t that imply the dry land was also?
If not “the whole earth,” how does the author explain evidence of the highest places on Earth at one time supporting sea life? (fossil record)
My view is that part of the Flood event was rapid continental drift and plate movement, to include collisions that uplifted the major mountain ranges we see today.
No, just the parts with evil people on it.............
No.
Except that part of it does teach that the floodwaters covered the whole earth while another part, perhaps, teaches it didn't. That doesn't lend a lot to inerrancy.
His theory makes no sense Biblically. The Bible clearly states that Noah and his family were the only survivors of the Flood, and the animals they brought with them. It was definitely not local. But I guess you don’t get invited to the better parties with a child-like faith in God.
It may or may not have, but the bible doesn’t pretend to be a science book. When OT writers talked of the earth, they were talking of what they knew. They saw the earth as a flat circle with a big water dome over it supported by the pillars of the mountains. It is the picture that was in their minds whenever they said “the whole earth”.
I leave it to science to determine if it was the whole earth as we know it, or the whole earth as they knew it. And science may show that it was the whole earth as they knew it and, also, the whole earth as we know it.
Amazing isn’t it? I also found out what the names mean, from Adam to Noah. I think it is the gospel in a simplified format.
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
“Alright God, You and me!!!”
“If not “the whole earth,” how does the author explain evidence of the highest places on Earth at one time supporting sea life? (fossil record)”
No human or elephant fossils?
ESPECIALLY if that's true, a global flood seems quite possible.
I don't deny scripture and God said it covered the earth withouth defining what "earth" was except .... it is THE earth .... American, African, Australian, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.